Affectionate Obsessions
by angelstarshine
Summary: Everyone has an obsession.For James Potter,it's pursuing Lily Evans.For Lily, it's trying to brush off James while trying to comprehend and deny that fact that she might be falling for him after all....
1. Of Spying and Mortal Support

**Affectionate Obsessions**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing you recognize.

**Hey! So, another new story. Just for those who are wondering, I deleted Blood Red because I know I couldn't possibly continue it, with all the other fics I'm already juggling. I'll probably repost it again after I finish at least 1 or 2 fics. But anyway, this is the one story I'm sort of proud about. I started writing it at around February, and my friends seemed to like it, and I hope you will to. Oh yes, a little note: Forgive me if Sirius acts impossibly crazy and stupid in this fic. I just found it quite funny if he was like that. Please read, and review, and most of all, ENJOY!**

Chapter 1

Of Spying and "Mortal" Support

Hogwarts was not what you could consider a normal magical school. It was a place wherein potion explosions were considered normal, where classes were usually out of the ordinary, and no one would think that almost loosing an eye just by going near a tree with some anger management issues as odd. It had, however, like most schools, its own share of gossip and news.

And out of all the words passed around, the most popular one was undeniably the fact that James Michael Potter was utterly and completely obsessed over Lily Elizabeth Evans.

Which would explain perfectly why he was now hiding inside a broom cupboard with his best mates, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew cramped inside as well.

"Prongs," Sirius said impatiently, "Would you remind me again why we're here?"

James turned as much as he could, what with the cramped space and all, and faced his friend. "Because Padfoot," he said, his voice sounding like he was giving instructions to an impossibly stubborn child, "We have to spy on Evans. I hear she passes this corridor every afternoon after her last period class".

Sirius shook his head. "No mate, I think you misunderstood me. When I said 'we', I meant me, Remus, and Peter. We don't want to spy on Lily, you know. Only you do".

"Why are we here? We're here to give James moral support, duh," Peter answered for him. James nodded in agreement as he continued peeking through the impossibly small hole.

"Mortal support? What the hell is that?" Sirius asked.

"Moral support, Padfoot, MORAL support," Remus corrected with a long-suffering sigh. He then spoke to James. "James, why exactly do you want to spy on Lily?"

"Because, Moony, she has a new lavender sweater. I want to see her wearing it, since she hasn't seen me all day. Who knows, she might change her mind about me today," he replied.

"OW!" James suddenly exclaimed as Sirius, being the nearest, smacked him up the head. "What the heck was that for?" he asked angrily.

It was Remus who answered this time. "For being a complete idiot. You took me from the close and intellectual confines of the library--------"

"-----and you took me from the kitchens------" Peter joined in.

"-----and you took me from admiring my reflection in the mirror-------" Sirius said as well.

"-----and brought us into this cramped, uncomfortable, not to mention, filthy cupboard just so you could see the so called love of you life in a new SWEATER!" Remus said, disbelief and annoyance lacing his voice.

"Yes," James said clearly, his tone implying that spying on the girl you liked just to see her on a new sweater was considered normal. The others gave exasperated sighs.

"Why didn't you just see her during class?" Peter said.

"I don't have any classes with her today," he replied in a voice of deep sorrow.

"Couldn't you just have seen her in the corridors, or in the Great Hall? Then maybe you could have spared us from enduring these indignities," Remus asked.

"No I can't. Not since she placed a restraining order charm against me. Now I can't be more than 3 meters from her, and the only time I can get near is when someone is between us," James explained in the same, sorrowful voice.

"And why did she cast the charm in the first place? Oh yes, I remember, It was because you kept on acting like an insane stalker!" Sirius joined in. "Oh Lily, Lily, you look so beautiful today," he mimicked his best friend. "Even when you fell onto the mud that made you look like an overgrown Chocolate Frog and-----HEY!" he shouted in indignation as James threw cobwebs at him.

"You know James, Padfoot's right. Isn't you crush on Lily getting a little too………." Remus said carefully, trying to find the right word that wouldn't result in getting cobwebs thrown at him. It was a well known fact that spider webs and Remus Lupin did not mix well together.

"Obsessive….." Peter muttered, finishing Remus's sentence.

James turned around fully to face Peter, hitting Remus, who also hit Sirius in the process. Peter cowered. "What did you say, Wormtail?" he demanded.

"I uh….I said….oh yeah, I said, uh…..orangutan!" Peter looked quite pleased at the lie he had made up. "I like them," he added.

His friends looked at him strangely. "Orangutan? What the heck are you talking about this time, Wormtail? Urgh, I hate it when you talk about something I don't understand!" Sirius said.

"Sirius, in order to clear your hopelessly mundane mind, I will clarify for you. An orangutan is a large long-armed ape of Borneo and Sumatra having arboreal habits or in other words, likes inhabiting or frequenting trees," Remus explained.

"And you like these animals because?" Sirius asked Peter, now remembering the odd little stuffed animal on Peter's bed.

"What? They're cute!" Peter said defensively.

"You're weird, Peter," Sirius said solemnly, as if stating a fact.

"Will you lot shut up; I think I see her coming already!" James hissed. His eyes widened. "Oh my god, she's here! In this corridor! Wearing her lavender sweater! And not alone...Wait! She's not alone! Crap, who is she with, I can't see from here, the damn hole's too small!" James was now practically hyperventilating.

"Of for goodness sake, James, let me see," Remus made to move forward, but Sirius bustled forward, knocking off James, and Remus, and Peter towards each other.

Ignoring the exclamations of hurt and cursing of his friends, Sirius leaned in and peaked. "I see them!" Sirius finally said, "Tough luck, Prongs. Looks like she's with Jonathan Danes".

"Jonathan Danes? That patheric Ravenclaw seeker? Why the hell is she with him?" James asked, now looking angry.

Sirius turned away from the eyehole and said, "Duh, James. This corridor is really popular for doing…..stuff".

"Why that little---let me at him—I'll murder him—no, I'll kill hi first, bury him, then kill him again----" James was seething.

Deciding that this apparent showcase of lunacy had gone too far, Remus bustles forward—knocking over his three friends in the process—and peaked in.

"Oh for goodness—James, Lily isn't with Jonathan. She's with Kaylie!" Remus reported in an extremely exasperated tone of voice.

James stopped in midsentence about his 101-ways-to-kill-and-torutre-mercilessly-Jonathan-Danes and said, "What? B-but Sirius said that she was with Danes".

"And who is usually more likely to tell a falsehood, me or Sirius?"

To answer, James came forward—once again hurting his three friends—and looked for himself. Sure enough, he saw Lily Evans helping out her best friend, Kaylie Morgan. The two didn't look like they were about to leave just yet, as Kaylie's bag had split, and they both had no wands with them at that moment, having sent it to their professor for a monthly wand check.

"Why the heck did you lie to me, Padfoot?" James said in annoyance.

Sirius shrugged. "No reason. I just like seeing you al mad, I suppose. It makes you look like a drunken house-elf".

Peter looked at Sirius. "That's evil, Padfoot".

"I'm Sirius Black. What do you expect?" Sirius replied arrogantly.

James rolled his eyes. "Okay, king and queen of randomness, shut up. I want to hear their conversation.

Remus looked deeply shocked. "James, don't you know anything about the word privacy? You are about to intrude on one of the most mystifying conversations of the female species wherein they talk about everything completely alien to us".

James replied, not breaking off his contact with the door. "Could you repeat that again, Moony, 'cuz I didn't understand a word you just said".

Remus sighed, wondering why he cursed with such dense friends. "Girl talk, James. _Girl talk_".

"Why do even want to listen to them?" Peter asked.

"Duh, they might talk about me. Who knows, maybe Lily will confess that she actually likes me," James explained.

Suddenly, he heard the words, "James Potter", coming from Lily, and he listened in more intently.

"So like I was saying Lily," Kaylie Anne Morgan said to her friend. "I want you to give me an honest answer. What do you really think about James Potter?"

Lily hesitated for awhile, and James pressed his ear even deeper into the door. Finally she spoke.

"Okay, fine. I think that James Potter is the most arrogant, presumptuous, annoying, bullying jerk I know," she said "Not to mention creepy, weird, cute-------" Lily, horrified, pressed her hand to her mouth after she said that.

"WHAT! SHE SAID I'M CUTE! YES! LILY THINKS I'M CUTE!" James yelled ecstatically, trying to do a dance, which only resulted in hitting his friends as well. "I HAVE TO TALK TO HER! I HAVE TO----"

At that moment when James forced the door open, the poor door broke away, and James lost balance and fell to the floor with a loud THUD. His friends who had been trying to leave, also lost their balance and Remus, Sirius, and Peter, all fell in rapid succession…….on top of James.

Lily and Kailey, who had been watching the rather disturbing scene with bewildered expressions, now burst out laughing.

"You can get off of me now, you guys," James said with as much strength as he could for someone trapped beneath 3 teenagers.

"Nah," Sirius said, not getting off. Remus and Peter had already complied. "I like sitting on top of you. You're really lumpy, like a pillow or a marshmallow".

"Padfoot, get the hell off of me, you prat, I am not a bouncing ball," James said through gritted teeth.

Sirius looked genuinely baffled. "You sure about that, Prongs? I know let's test it to see if you're right," And with that he promptly started bouncing off of James, going up and down with a loud THUD. The cries of pain and cursing from his best friends were blatantly ignored.

Finally, and to James intense relief, Sirius got off. "You're right Prongs. You're not bouncy, I don't like you at all," he declared.

James stood up with difficulty, sputtering as he regained his breathing. He was pretty sure that half his bones were broken by now.

Still he managed to flash a smile at Lily, who still had an amused expression on her face.

"Hi Evans," he said smoothly.

"My, my, Potter, in a closet? With your best _male_ friends? Hmm, I didn't know you swung that way," Lily replied, smirking.

James reddened. "It's not like that at all, Evans, I swear".

"Enlighten me".

Remus cut in at this point. "He wanted to see you, Lily. According to him, he wanted to see you in your new sweater".

Lily's eyes narrowed, but an amused smile curved her lips. "Is that so? Now, why don't you tell me why the _three_ of you are with him? He forced you to come along, didn't he?"

"We were there to give him mortal support, of course,"" Sirius said. "And we went willingly, just so you know".

Remus hissed, "Moral, Padfoot, MORAL!"

Lily wasn't fooled for a second. "Sirius, you're not a very good liar. Did you go willingly?"

"Um……." Peter hesitated. "Yes?"

Lily sighed. "What did Potter threaten you with?"

Knowing that it was useless to lie, Sirius said, "He threatened to take away my Chocolate Frogs, and to throw my mirror into the fire!"

"He threatened to burn all my books. Have you heard of such atrocity? Can you imagine a wonderful work of Chaucer in the fire? I should say not!" Remus said, affronted and horrified at the very thought. Both he and Sirius held accusatory tones.

"He threatened to throw my stuffed orangutan teddy bear into the lake!" Peter said with bravado.

They all looked at him.

"What? They're cute and cuddly!" Peter defended.

James merely shook his head. "So Evans? Go out with me?"

Lily laughed, the sound sardonic. "After what I just saw? And more importantly, after I just witnessed just how stalkerish you can be? No way, Potter". Even if Remus and Sirius were in between them, James still couldn't get to see her properly.

"Come on, Evans. You know you want to. You know I won't cheat on you. I'm not like that jerk Mark Henderson who cheated on you for Shiera Peters," James said. Realizing the implications of his words, he covered his mouth and looked at his friends, whose friends were shaking.

Lily stiffened. "Don't you ever mention him ever again, Potter, you insensitive jerk!" she snapped angrily before turning away and leaving. Kailey threw the boys an apologetic look before following her friend.

He tried to run after her, yelling, "Evans! Hey Evans!" But when he getting close to her, a blindly bright light shone, then a loud bang, and James was thrown off his position and brought back to where his friends were.

"Damn restraining order charm…." James muttered painfully. He slumped to the floor, Sirius following.

"Face it, James. She hates you," he said sympathetically.

"You think?" was his best friends' sarcastic reply before he buried his head in his hands, wishing he could just disappear into thin air.


	2. The Unwanted And Unneeded Rescue

**Affectionate Obsessions**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing you recognize.

**Note to readers**: Thanks a lot for the reviews! Not as much as I had hoped, but still, those very nice things you wrote really boosted my spirit to continue with this. And yes, I've now noticed that Sirius is a little crazy…forgive me with that, I didn't even notice before. I'll try to tone him down a bit after this chapter. Much love!

Chapter 2

**The Unwanted-and Unneeded- Rescue**

"_The sun will come out, tomorrow….._"

"Padfoot, will you stop singing that song?" Remus said exasperatedly. It was a Saturday, it was raining, and they were just inside.

Sirius frowned. "Fine". He then burst into song again. "_Rain, rain, go away, come again another day….._"

"And that song too!" Remus irately said.

"Okay. How about, 'I'm walking in the rain, I'm-------"

"Padfoot stop—oh for goodness' sake, never mind," Remus said exasperatedly. "Just keep quiet, will you, I'm trying to finish this essay".

Sirius nodded, and Remus basked in silence for awhile as he finished his essay. A few minutes later, Sirius started humming an unfamiliar tune, going gradually from a soft murmur to a loud, annoying buzz.

Remus put down his quill. "When I said quiet, Sirius, I meant that there was to be no sound coming from your mouth".

Sirius simply nodded again…….and started clapping his hands very, very loudly.

Remus, now looking thoroughly agitated, shut his book with a loud SNAP, and looked at his friend, giving him his sharp I'm-annoyed-and-I'm-going-to-hurt-you-during-the-next-full-moon glare.

Sirius, upon seeing that look, shuddered, and stopped his hand in mid-clap, then put them down in defeat. Remus gave him a final look of warning before resuming his work.

Suddenly, Peter came out of the common room. He sat beside his friends after short greetings were exchanged.

Half an hour later, Remus was finished with his essay and his two friends were playing Wizard's Chess. Abruptly noticing something, Sirius looked around the near-deserted common room and asked, "Hey. Where's James?"

"Beats me," Remus said now noticing it as well. "Peter, you were the one who came back to the dorms after breakfast, and James was still asleep, do you know where he went?"

"Um….." Peter replied. "He didn't say where, exactly, but he did mutter the words, 'Astronomy Tower'".

Sirius sat up so fast and so suddenly, wailing his arms around. As he did so, he knocked over the ink bottle……

…….Which came crashing into Remus' newly made essay.

Ignoring the glare of his friend, Sirius said in a very anguished voice, "Oh no. James is in the Astronomy Tower! We must get to him! Before it's too late!"

"Padfoot what are you talking about?" Remus and Peter said in unison, looking rather startled at the look of horror on Sirius' face.

Sirius looked at his friends in anguish. "We have to save him! Remember the last time he went into the Astronomy Tower?"

"Of course we remember, we all had Astronomy last night, didn't we?" Remus said.

Sirius shook his head. "No,no,no. I meant the last time he went there _alone_. He tried to jump, don't you remember that?"

He was despaired to see the impassive looks on his two friends' faces. "No Sirius. He didn't try to jump he----" Remus said but was cut off.

"Yes he did. Ad he was doing it because Lily yelled at him that day!" Sirius argued.

"No, he was just leaning over the ledge because he was looking for his watch that slid off his wrist because he made the mistake of unclasping it," Remus clarified. "It just looked like he was about to jump".

"How can I have not known this?" Sirius demanded.

"Because you were too busy snogging Hilary Daltren to notice?" Peter supplied in what he thought was a helpful voice.

Sirius whipped around to face his friend. "What did you say, Peter?"

Overcome by severe intimidation, Peter simply stuttered, "Um….I uh….I said that Orange the Orangutan is looking for me and I have to go now. Bye!" And with that he scurried away. Remus looked reproachfully at Sirius.

"What?" Sirius defended. "I just wanted to know who Hilary Daltren was, that's all. I've forgotten about her. But anyway," his voice turned brisk once more, with the same intonation of horror. "We must save Prongsie! He can't die yet! He still needs to get Lily's affections and prove that he isn't a crazy stalker! I still have to be the best man at their wedding! I still have to corrupt their future children to learn my dashingly handsome and wonderful ways! Come on, Moony! Off we go!" And with that, he sped off quickly, leaving the common room.

Remus sighed tiredly, and decided to follow his friend to the Tower. Outside the Fat Lady's portrait, he met Lily, who was bringing some thick-bound books.

"Hi Remus," she greeted. The noticing Sirius disappearing down the hall shouting, _"Must get to Prongsie!"_ she asked. "Where are you going?"

Giving a look at Sirius's retreating figure, Remus replied, "To follow Sirius to rescue James because he thinks that James is about to jump from the Astronomy Tower".

"And why are you following him?"

"Because Sirius Black by himself with no companion that possesses even the least bit of common sense is sure to be very catastrophic," was his succinct reply before he followed Sirius' steps, leaving Lily behind.

She had just entered the silence of the common room when something Remus said registered in her mind. "Wait….did he just say Potter was about to jump off the Astronomy Tower?"

Lily promptly dropped her things, turned on her heel and left the common room, heading for the Astronomy Tower, leaving her poor books scattered carelessly onto the floor.

..------..

James was bored. Very bored. The rain, which was now coming down steadily, was boring. The morning was boring. Hell, from his point of view, everything was boring.

"This is just as interesting as listening to Moony recite the Latin alphabet backwards," James thought tiredly.

He sighed, probably thinking that most people would not be caught out here, soaking wet, in the middle of the rain. Unfortunately, James wasn't most people.

But he didn't care. Being alone in the Astronomy Tower, with the rain pouring, was relaxing to him and made him think. And besides, James liked rain; he loved rain. He liked the way it pattered down to the earth noisily. He liked the way it went to his skin. He especially loved the way the dark clouds and droplets formed an image of a certain redhead------

"I am so in love with her," James muttered to himself, yet smiling at the thought.

As he launched himself into a fantasy world he privately called Lilyland, he thankfully failed to notice a certain person running through the grounds, yelling, "Prongs, I'll save you!" with an agitated-looking person by his side.

..------..

"Sirius, is this really necessary?" Remus muttered, his tone voicing annoyance. "I mean, this really isn't going to save James. Nothing will, because, oh I don't know, he's not in a _NEAR DEATH SITUATION_!"

"Nonsense my encyclopedic friend," Sirius brushed of Remus's protests. "I assure you, it'll help him in every way".

Remus threw him a look of incredulity. "Sirius, would you please explain to me how on earth _invoking_ _the spirits of the four fou_nders is going to help James?"

"Well, they built the school, didn't they?" Sirius explained. "So they protect the school. Meaning they'll protect James".

"But Sirius," Remus pointed out, "In the highly unlikely event that James is really going to jump, don't you think that it would be better to save time and rescue him by yourself?"

"No Moony, I need all the help I can get," Sirius paused. "Hand me that piece of wood, will you?"

"Why?"

"Because it shall be the starting point with which I will build my shrine to call----"

"Never mind, Padfoot," Remus replied resignedly.

"But Moony, you have to listen! It's very important. This shrine I will make will contact the spirits-----".

This statement was promptly interrupted by a block of wood hurled sharply at the speaker, resulting in a short cry of pain and cursing.

..-----..

"Oh shit".

These two words were repeatedly said many times over by James as he looked despairingly down at the Astronomy Tower…..

……And at his watch, which was annoyingly snagged on one of the sharp statues more or less in the middle of the ground and where he was standing. Which was a pretty high distance, if you looked at it.

"Of all the stupid things I could have done, again, I just had to unclasp my watch. I am such an idiot," James cursed himself. He looked down again, measuring the distance with his eye, debating with himself about whether he should jump or not.

After realizing, however, that jumping would surely lead to death, he got a brilliant idea.

"I could use my wand to summon my broom to get my watch!" James thought, grinning. "James Potter you are a genius!"

He reached into his back pocket to get his wand, took the belongings found there, and looked at them.

There was a piece of untouched gum. A scrap of parchment. A picture of Lily Evans. But no wand.

"Damn," he cursed again as he abruptly remembered where his wand had gone.

FLASHBACK

At five o'clock in the morning……

"James, do you love Lily?" Sirius asked.

"Yes," James mumbled in his half-asleep, half-awake state.

"Are you crazy about her?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think you have a chance?"

"I don't know….."

"Okay. Hey, can I borrow your wand?"

"Mmhhmmm, sure, whatever".

"Thanks. One more thing. Am I the greatest, most handsome and charming being on this planet?"

"NO!"

END OF FLASHBACK.

"Reminder to self: Murder Sirius later," James muttered to himself as he looked down below, wondering what on earth he was going to do.

..------..

Lily, on the other hand, was having problems of her own. It might not have been lost to you as to why Lily wasn't in the Astronomy Tower yet, since she had left ages ago and was not involved in some lunacy-filled situation, as Sirius and Remus were. Well, it was all very simple, really.

You see, just as she had rounded a corner awhile ago, she was met with a rather unsettling sight.

All of which involved Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black, involved in a heated lip-lock session.

"Malfoy! Black! What the hell do you think our doing!" Lily demanded.

"What's it to you mudblood? Hmm, let me guess. Probably jealous since you don't seem to be getting any action from any boyfriend, right?" Lucius said snidely.

Lily reddened, and anger coursed through her, but she kept as calm as she could and stood her ground. "As Head Girl, I have the right to inform you that you are doing an act of indecency that is strictly permitted in our school, especially in public. Ten points from Slytherin!" Lily snapped with utmost authority.

"You can't do that," Narcissa said angrily.

"Au contraire, Black, I can," Lily smirked. "And by the way, where did you get your highlights from? Your hair deserves the 'Most Horrendous' award".

"WHY YOU LITTLE--------" Narcissa made to launch at her, but Lucius stopped her and spoke to Lily, venom dripping from his voice.

"You're just a pathetic little mudblood, don't you dare talk to us like that. We are superior to you in every way," Lucius hissed at her. Lily stared back into his cold, grey eyes, not in the least bit afraid.

"Well then," she said evenly, and with a hint of satisfaction, "I guess being pathetic isn't even half as bad as blindly worshipping a worthless, merciless, evil, and cowardly dark lord called Voldemort whose sole purpose is to ruin people's lives, now is it?"

Instantly, Narcissa and Lucius drew their wand. "How dare you say his name, mudblood!" they hissed.

Before anything else could happen, a ground strode behind Lucius and Narcissa.

"Well, well, well, Miss. Evans the mudblood, how delightful," Rodulphus Lestrange said with malevolence, Bellatrix Black cackling in the background.

"And to what do we owe this meeting?" Bellatrix asked, her eyes glittering with malice.

"She has insulted the dark lord, even said his name! And she took ten points from our House," Narcissa said spitefully.

Instantly, Rodulphus and Bellatrix drew their wands as well. "You dare say his name, mudblood? You should be trembling with fear at the very thought of him, and us, as we will rise into power, because he will come after filth like you!" Rodulphus said.

Lily stared at them with unwavering cool. "Yeah, right. But guess what, there's a tiny problem here. You see, Voldemort? I'm not afraid of him, not in the least bit. And you guys are as spineless and as cowardly as he is".

Their wands now pointed to Lily's throat and heart. "You'll pay for that one, mudblood".

Looking determined, and not at all daunted by the fact that it was going to be a four against one match, Lily drew her own wand. "Bring it on, bitches".

..------..

"Sirius, this is getting really ridiculous," Remus said as he watched his friend piece together a half-finished shrine, which, he had to admit, looked pretty impressive. "We are wasting our time here!"

As he said so, he looked out of the corner of his eye and looked at James from the Astronomy Tower, which could thankfully be seen from his viewing range. Remus added, "Sirius, James isn't jumping, look----"

"Look Moony, if you don't want to help save our friend, that's fine with me," Sirius said, now getting annoyed as well. "Just don't try to distract someone who _is_ willing to help".

Remus sighed tiredly and rubbed his temples. He was getting a headache, just from arguing. "Sirius, it's not like that. It's just that this is completely useless, since James isn't about to-----" He suddenly stopped short as he scanned his surroundings and saw the Astronomy Tower.

"Sirius," Remus suddenly said, a bite of urgency in his voice.

"Not now, Moony, I'm about to call the spirits," Sirius said impatiently as he raised his hands.

"Sirius," Remus repeated, the urgency in his voice now very hard to miss.

"Shh, quiet Moony. _'I humbly call the spirits of the Four Founders of this great institution of learning, Godric Gryffindor_-------"

"Sirius!" Remus now yelled.

Sirius now turned away from his shrine to snap, "What?"

"James is about to jump from the Astronomy Tower, now!" Remus said in a very urgent tone, which held a hint of disbelief as well.

"_WHAT!_"

..------..

"Had enough, yet, Evans?" Bellatrix asked her as Lily staggered back after being hit with the Jelly-Legs Jinx. It had been ten minutes since they had drew their wands, but Lily still hadn't shot any spells yet.

"Are you kidding?" Lily replied as soon as she was able to stand up again. "I've only just begun". She dusted off some imaginary dust from her clothes. "Hmm, a four to one match? It doesn't seem fair, you know".

"Too bad mudblood, because you see, we don't care about being fair," Narcissa said, cackling evilly.

"Really? Maybe you don't, but I do. Expelliarmus!" She cried and at once all their wands flew neatly to her outstretched palm. Once carefully making sure that they wouldn't be able to get their wands from her, she met their eyes, which were clouding over in fury.

"All four of you are getting detention for provoking, insulting, and fighting with a student. I will go and see McGonagall about this, who will obviously call on your Head of House, as assault on a student, however light, is strictly prohibited, and I am sure you will get just punishment. I, on the other hand," she took a moment to smirk at the four, who was glaring at her malevolently. "Will tell McGonagall exactly what happened, and the worst she will do to me is take off 5 points for insulting you lot, because I did not shoot any spells except one to end and control the situation".

"Evans you bitch," Lucius spat.

"Maybe, Malfoy, maybe, but I assure you, no matter how much of a bitch I m, will still be more likely to be believed than the whole lot of you put together". She looked at her enemies once more. "Now----wait a minute, where's Lestrange? Where's-----"

She never did get to finish that sentence because at that moment, Rodulphus Lestrange crept behind Lily and suddenly grabbed her arms with such force that she couldn't escape. He took a box from his pocket, which contained some silvery powder. He bew it at Lily, and she was instantly immobilized from the neck down. He took their wands easily and gave them back to their owners, and resumed his place with them.

"How does it feel to be helpless now, Evans?" was his question as he and the other looked up at Lily's emerald eyes, which, for the first time that day, now held a hint of fear.

..------..

"Remus, come on! Run faster!" Sirius urged him as they quickly run up the steps leading to the Astronomy Tower. "He might have already fallen by now!"

"I'm running as fast as I can, Sirius," Remus said as they ran up the long flight to stone steps. "It's not my fault that I didn't ingest at least three bars of chocolate and a piece of cake to make me hyper and run faster!"

They didn't speak anymore as they ran up the steps, going higher and higher. Finally, they reached the top and opened the door and ran inside and saw……..

…..James leaning precariously down from where he was standing, looking as if he had every intention to jump.

"James, NO! Don't do it!" Sirius yelled as he and Remus suddenly wrestled James away from the edge of the Tower, resulting in James getting thrown to the floor and looking at his two friends as if they had gone insane.

"What are you guys doing here? And more importantly, what the hell are you talking about?" James asked them as he stood up, brushing off some dirt from his robes.

"You were going to jump! We had to stop you!" Remus explained.

"Yeah! Come on, James, killing yourself will not make Lily love you back, it'll only end up-----" Sirius said but was interrupted by James.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, what did you just say? Kill myself? You thought I went into the Astronomy Tower to _kill myself_!" He asked incredulously.

Remus was now beginning to feel sheepish. "Um, yes. Honestly, yes. You see, Sirius thought that you were about to jump and he went after you. I followed him. I ran into Lily too and told her what was going on. Then Sirius was building a shrine to call the four founders to help you, which I always said wouldn't work, and I saw that you were leaning so close to the edge it looked like you were about to jump and-----"

James now began laughing at this. "No! Come on, you guys, I may be a lot of things, but I'm not stupid enough to do that!"

"Then why were you leaning over the edge?" Sirius asked.

"My watch fell again, and I can't get it because you borrowed my wand, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Sirius said. Then he broke into a huge grin and said, "Alrighty then! Let's all go celebrate Prongsie's False Suicide Attempt!" He began ushering his two friends out of the Tower and going down the steps.

"But Sirius, what about my wa---" James tried to say, but, as they were already halfway around the stairs, decided not to continue it. Besides, he knew that if he would, Sirius would just try to brush everything off, and Remus would just recite some wise proverb that just wouldn't help at all.

Meanwhile, Lily was not in a good situation. They had been shooting spells at her, not very harmless ones, yes, but she was getting very irritated at being made to giggle and tap-dance while in a very stiff position.

"All of you are cowards," Lily spat. "You don't have the guts to take on one person freely; you have to bind them before you do it. So cowardly," She knew provoking them wasn't really the best idea, but she needed to stall for time until she could think of a plan.

Lucius raised his wand and said. "Shut up, mudblood. Sectumsem-----"

"Petrificus Totalus!" Two voices cried. Instantly, the four were turned rigid and fell down to the ground. Then another voice cast, "Liberazione!" And instantly, Lily was released from the spell and fell to the ground as well.

James, Sirius, and Remus ran up to her and helped her up. "Lily, are you okay?" Remus asked her.

"Yeah, I mean, those scum really had you bad," Sirius commented.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but really, you guys, you didn't have to come save me, I was doing fine on my own!" Lily defended herself.

"Of course you were, Lily, which explains perfectly why you were immobilized in front of them, helpless and at their mercy," James said dryly.

Lily glared at him. "I was doing fine, okay? Don't fuss over me, I'm fine, stop doing that!" she added the last part to James, who was giving her a once-over (well, as much as the restraining order charm would permit, as Remus was standing partially in between the two) to see whether she was hurt or not, and checking her out in the process.

"You sure about that?" he asked.

"Yes, yes, I am, the worse they made me do was a tap dance, got it!" Lily snapped.

"What were you even doing here, Lily? Most people don't frequent this corridor," Remus questioned.

Lily, to their surprise, blushed. "I was….well…..If you must know, I was going to the Astronomy Tower because I heard Remus say that Potter was going to jump".

James visibly smiled at this. "Really? So that proves that you're concerned over me! Meaning you care for me! Hey, what do we say we go to ---------"

"Quit it, Potter you're rambling," Lily cut him off. "I went there because I needed to stop you from pulling an idiotic stunt because, one, I absolutely refuse to shoulder Head responsibilities on my own, and two, if you really did jump and you died, people might blame me".

James looked a bit downcast, but said softly, "Right. Whatever. I'm just glad your safe now, Lily".

Lily nodded. "Right. Anyway, thanks again. I've still got to report this to Professor McGonagall. Bye" and with that she turned and left.

James stared at her retreating figure with a glazed over expression on his face, his two friends shaking their heads. Once she was completely gone, he turned back to his friends and said, "So what do we do about these four?"

Sirius looked at them and said, "Nah, just leave them there. Someone will find them eventually".

Remus rolled his eyes as the trio began walking. They were silent for awhile until James remembered something and spoke to his friends.

"Now guys………." James said to them. "About my watch………….."

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**There! An end to an impossibly long and strange chapter. Hope you like it. Read and review, please! Thanks!**


	3. Chocolate Obsessions and Fish Talks

**Affectionate Obsessions**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing you recognize.

**Note:** Thank you for the reviews! And the medieval person I mentioned in this chapter, just in case you'd be wondering, is purely made up by my weird and bored mind. Anyway, I have a close friend who has a habit of talking to the fishes in our biology lab and library and naming them after herself and after her friends. She asked me a lot of times if it was normal to do so. Well, here's my answer……..Too bad she wont get to read this since she isn't as Harry Potter obsessed as I am and has never heard of But oh well.

Chapter 3

**Chocolate Obsessions and Fish Talks**

All was peaceful in Hogwarts two weeks later. The atmosphere and the night were quiet and everyone was in the state of blissful slumber. Everyone except one.

"GUYS!" Sirius suddenly called out, waking up his three dorm mates. "WAKE UP!"

Three groans were heard simultaneously as Sirius unceremoniously shook Remus, Peter, and Frank Longbottom until they opened their eyes.

"Sirius," Remus spoke sleepily as he tried to fall asleep again. "Would you please explain to us why you had another bout of the crazy sickness and decided to wake us all from our sleep?"

"Simple guys," Sirius said. "I want some chocolate. Let's go to the kitchens!"

Three pillows were hurled towards his head.

Remus gave him an exasperated glance. "Padfoot," he said as patiently as he could, "You woke us all up for chocolate? Why don't you spare yourself the trouble of going to the kitchens and conjuring up a bar by yourself!"

"But I can't!" Sirius said in a voice of anguish. "You see, conjured-up chocolate isn't as good as kitchens-house-elf made chocolate".

"And it matters because…….?" Frank asked darkly.

"Well, it's simple," Sirius explained. "I love chocolate. I need to have the best of the best, because without it, I'll go insane, or worse, lose my handsomeness and charm!" He took on a look of horror at the very thought.

"And would that be so bad? Besides, you're already insane," Frank said.

Sirius brushed the insult aside. "Come on, guys. This is _chocolate_ we're talking about here! The best thing on earth since….well, since ME!"

"Unbelievable," Peter muttered into his pillow. "Not only is he crazy, but he's arrogant as well".

"No Padfoot," Remus said. "What we are talking about right now is your apparent craziness. Wait, technically, we shouldn't even be talking, we should be sleeping. Normal people are still asleep at 2:45 am, Sirius, and we want to be one of them, so the answer is NO!"

Sirius pouted. "Come on, guys! Please! It'll be great, I swear!"

"Sorry Sirius," Peter mumbled, his eyes already closed. "I need my sleep because I don't want to fall asleep in front of my breakfast, plain and simple".

"No way Sirius," Remus said, "I need my sleep since I need a clear head for tomorrow's Arthimancy test".

"Forget it," Frank added. "I'm seeing Alice tomorrow; I need to look like something even remotely resembling a human being, and not someone from the Night of the Living Dead".

"Fine" Sirius said. He threw on some clothes and his cloak and headed outside. He stealthily walked towards the Head's common room until he was in front of a large portrait of a snoring man in elegant mauve wizard's robes.

"OY! Strange portrait guy! Wake up!" Sirius whispered as he repeatedly tapped the canvas.

The man in the portrait gave a short noise, jolted and opened his eyes sleepily. Upon seeing Sirius, it asked in a dignified English accented voice, "Yes?"

"Hey, strange portrait guy, let me in, I need to see the Head Boy!" Sirius said as loudly as he could.

The man in the portrait straightened his posture and said in the same dignified tone, "I would prefer if you called me Sir Patrick Whilloughby-Devonton, Knight of The-----"

"Round Table? Like in King Arthur?" Sirius asked.

"Square Table, actually. I worked as knight and sorcerer for the father of Lady Gwendolyn of Alessiera," The man in the portrait rectified.

"Gwendolyn of where? Wait a second, why the hell am I making small talk with a bloody portrait?" Sirius asked himself. Turning once more to the portrait, he said, "Come on, Sir Patrick, let me in!"

"And what business would you have with Master James at this hour?" Sir Patrick asked.

"I need to talk to him!" Sirius said simply.

"About what?"

"Why would you care?"

"Because as Protector of the Head's Room, I make it my business to know about anyone's specific reason for entering this room. Now what business would you have with Master James at this hour?" Sir Patrick asked.

Sirius sighed. "Fine. I want him to come with me to the kitchens to get some chocolate".

"What!" The portrait hissed. "Young man, are you aware that sneaking into the kitchens, especially during these hours is strictly prohibited? It says so in Section 1 of the Prohibited Things in the Hogwarts Rulebook".

"Geez, you're more rigid about rules-following than McGonagall. No wonder James dislikes you," Sirius muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" The portrait questioned.

Still not believing that he was still talking to a crazy rules-obsessed portrait, he replied, "Fine. I wasn't really going to take him to the kitchens. I was really just here to um…..borrow his Hogwarts Rulebook! You know, to read up on the rules of this school, so I can make sure I don't break anything! I just care so much about rules, you know?" He smiled innocently at the portrait, but was gagging inwardly at the words he had just spoken.

Sir Patrick visibly brightened. "Well then, that's an entirely different matter! Very good, Sir. In you go!" and with that, he swung the portrait to reveal the entrance to the Head's common room.

Just as Sirius was about to enter, he paused and asked Sir Patrick, "Hey wait a minute, why are you letting me enter without a password?"

"Simple," Sir Patrick replied. "You are a rule-follower, a person who respects authority and lives by the rules. You just said so. I trust people who are like that, so I know perfectly well that you won't do any destructive actions".

Sirius simply nodded and walked inside, the portrait closing behind him. "That was almost too easy," he thought to himself as he climbed the staircase leading to the wooden door marked _"James Potter, Head Boy"._

Once there, he turned the knob, opened the door, and went inside, closing the door softly behind him. His first thought was that it would be worth becoming Head Boy just so he could have a big, neat, and grand room like this………but then he changed his mind and decided that pranks would be better instead.

He found James sleeping peacefully in the big bed at the center of the room. "Hey, he's still using the quilt he had when he was still five! Hehe, this is great for blackmail purposes! He is such a little kid," he thought to himself before he went to the side of the bed where James was sleeping and started to shake him as he had done with the rest of his friends.

Finally James opened his eyes. Upon seeing Sirius's face, he said groggily, "Padfoot? What are you doing here?"

"Simple," Sirius repeated what he had said to the others before. "I want some chocolate. Let's go to the kitchens!"

James glanced at the clock. "Padfoot," he said through gritted teeth, "You woke me up just because you wanted some _chocolate_? It's bloody 3 o'clock in the morning, go find someone else to annoy, or better yet, go get it yourself!"

"But I can't!" Sirius said in a voice of anguish. "If I went alone, I might get lost; you know how uncoordinated I am in the dark, and I don't want to use my wand. And besides, if I tried to find someone else, they would only try to hex me for being an annoying prat".

"Which is exactly what I'm going to do to you if you don't go back to sleep and stop annoying me," James muttered darkly into his pillow.

He repeated the reasons why the other three guys didn't want to go with him, which he said, were perfectly valid reasons. "See, you are my friend," Sirius also explained. "So that means you won't hurt me, right?"

"Keep talking and I just might," James said threateningly. He was in an especially grumpy mood whenever something interrupted his sleep.

Sirius turned to James with a pleading look in his eyes. "James? Please?"

"No way!" James protested.

"Why?"

"Because……..well……because…….I uh…….."

Sirius grinned triumphantly. "Ha! You don't have a reason, so that means you have to accompany me to the kitchens!"

James suddenly got an idea. "Nope, I have a reason. I have to look good tomorrow because I'm going to see Lily then! There, a perfectly valid reason" He smirked.

Sirius, much to James surprise, simply grinned. "No, sorry Prongsie, but that's not a good enough reason. Now let's go!"

"What!" James protested. "But that excuse worked with Frank, why can't it work with me?"

"Because James," Sirius said as he went to James's side of the bed and began to pull on him to get up. "The difference between you and Frank is that Alice is actually Frank's girlfriend, while Lily isn't looking even close to becoming your girlfriend".

As he began tugging on James's arm, James said, "NO! I don't care, Sirius, I am not going with you".

"Well then, I'll just have to tell Lily about the time during your parents' party last year when you tried to do a spell to clean the drink you spilt on the floor but it backfired and caused it to spill on Lady Patricia Adamson's dress. And not only that, you also----"

"Okay, okay, let's go," James said hastily as he hurriedly got out of bed and got changed into something proper and more decent, along with putting his robe on. "Sometimes I wonder why I couldn't get a normal best friend," he muttered to himself as he retrieved the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map from his trunk.

He threw the cloak over them and the two walked out of his room and out of the common room. The crept quietly to the kitchens, taking care not to pass on any corridor that had another person walking.

Finally they reached the big portrait of fruit. Looking around first to see if someone was there, Sirius reached out his hand and tickled the pear. At once the portrait swung open to reveal the immaculately white kitchen of Hogwarts, which, though filled with many house-elves concocting and whipping up foods for breakfast presumably, was still strangely spotless.

Two house-elves came to them at once, a male and female. "Good morning, James Potter and Sirius Black!" the two chorused as the female house-elf gave a short curtsy.

"Hello Talley, Hello Barley. Just the usual chocolate feast for me, and a cup of hot chocolate for James, if you please," Sirius requested as he and James sat down on the chairs by the big mahogany table the house-elves had placed there especially for Hogwarts students.

As the house-elves began laying the chocolate-laden delicacies on the table, Sirius expression was of one who had died and gone to heaven. He sighed contentedly as he began eating, James merely sipping his hot chocolate as he fought to stay awake. Suddenly, he heard a voice that made him snap totally awake.

"Sirius? Potter?" These were the words that came out of Lily Evans' mouth as she stared in surprise at the two newcomers. "What are you two doing here? At three thirty in the morning?"

As James was still looking shock stilled to see the love of his life in the same room as them, Sirius answered by saying, "Well, I wanted some chocolate and I asked James to come along! But I should ask you the same question. What are you doing here? This is against the rules, and you are Head Girl".

"And Potter is Head Boy but that didn't stop him, now did it?" Lily countered. "Besides, I don't recall Professor Dumbledore ever mentioning that going into the kitchens was strictly prohibited. And anyway, I didn't come here by free will, Kailey asked me to come with her".

It was Sirius' turn to stare. "What? But Sir Patrick said it was illegal! According to him, it was stated in Section 1 of the Prohibited Things in the Hogwarts Rulebook".

Lily shook her head. ""Sirius, first of all, there is no Hogwarts rulebook. You see, the teachers had already assumed that students would know the rules by just following their _common sense _and what the teachers would tell them. And besides, Sir Patrick is a crazy person who still believes that he is an all-important knight and he makes up rules to mess with peoples' minds".

Before any of them could say anything else, Kailey came up to them, bringing with her a half-eaten muffin.

"Hey Lils, where are---wait a minute. Sirius? James?" she said in disbelief. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Apparently you're not the only one with a sudden 3 am chocolate craving, Kaye," Lily replied for the boys, laughing a bit.

Kailey shook her head, and then suddenly had direct eye-contact with Sirius. She saw a glint in his eyes, and she understood completely. Giving a subtle nod, she guessed his plan right away.

"Well, guys, it just so happens that um…." Sirius said. "Uh, Kailey and I have to talk about our Transfiguration project! Yeah, so we'll just go and…….."

"Yeah, come on, Sirius. Let's go talk in the uh, Great Hall," Kailey said.

Lily and James threw the two looks, and they knew that they weren't fooled. "You need to talk about school? At almost four in the morning? My, my, aren't you two different," Lily said smoothly.

"You know Sirius," James said with equal smoothness, hoping to get Lily's attention. "For a person who wanted chocolate, isn't too keen on schoolwork, and loves the kitchens, you seem to want to leave right away. Strange".

Kailey and Sirius glanced at each other. "Well, this is important. We really have to go. Bye!" and without listening to their friend's protests, Sirius took Kailey's arm, which seemed to surprise everyone, and led her out of the kitchens, leaving Lily, James, and a very awkward silence behind them.

"So..." Lily said awkwardly.

"So……." James echoed after her. He searched for something to talk about, and then said the first thing that came into his mind. "So, how's the weather?"

_I hate myself_, he thought, _I'm in a room with the girl I love_ _and all I could talk about is the _weather_! I am so stupid._

Lily looked at him oddly. "The weather? At 3:45 am?" she sat on the table so the two were across each other.

"What?" he said defensively. "Although now that you think about it, it does sound kind of lame, doesn't it?"

Lily was taken aback. Did she just hear James Potter admit that he had said something lame? Whoa, that was a first. "Frankly, yes. It is lame," she conceded. She glanced at the clock perched on the wall, and said, "Well, I'd better be going then. I need my sleep-or what's left of it—if I'm going to stay awake for class later". She made to stand up, and walked over to where James was at since the entrance was near him.

There was a loud blast, and James was suddenly knocked over to the far side of the room. "Damn restraining order charm," he muttered painfully.

Lily looked on guiltily. "The restraining order charm did that, didn't it?"

"What do you think?" James said sardonically.

Lily sighed, took her wand and said, "Sorry. I guess I'll have to remove the charm. After all, if you get too close, I can always hex you". And with that, she waved her wand, said an incantation, and James happily walked back to his original place.

Once there, Lily said, "Right. I'd better be going then".

James nodded. "Yeah, I'd better be going too. I need my sleep if I'm going to be awake enough to grace everyone with my wonderful handsomeness tomorrow, especially you".

Lily turned to face him, her eyes narrowed. "See, this is what I hate about you! You're being so damn arrogant, smirking all the time and ruffling up your hair, it makes me sick. Look, do me a favor, and just don't talk to me today, okay?"

"How can I do that? We both have more or less the same classes today, and at some point we will have to make contact".

"How would you know if we have the same classes, huh?"

"Simple. I memorized your schedule. It's Monday today, so at 9 to 8:50, you have Charms, then at 10- 11 you have Double Potions with the Slytherins, then lunch then----"

"Wait a sec, you actually memorized my schedule? Are you stalking me or something?" Lily asked him, her incredulous gaze laced with silent fury.

"I'm not stalking you Evans, just admiring, only crazy people stalk," James defended himself.

"Potter, you owled me almost every single day at my house last summer. You suddenly turn up at places where I am, as if you have a map or something that knows where I am. Any boy who approaches me and just asks me out somehow mysteriously ends up in the Hospital Wing sprouting tentacles. Does that not sound like stalking to you?"

"Well, maybe a bit," James said uncomfortably, "But I'm only doing it for you to see that we're perfect for each other!"

"POTTER!" she screamed. "We are not perfect for each other, see how much we fight? Besides, never in my life would I go for someone as egoistical and annoying, not to mention slightly crazy, as you!" And with that, she turned and left the kitchens.

James just stared at her leaving figure, wondering why he was constantly being such an idiot around Lily. Now that he thought about it, it was probably because he had been following advice coming from a book Sirius had given him, which was made by the Marauders on his birthday, which stated ways on how to win over Lily.

"Why did I trust that stupid book again?" James questioned to himself. Then he remembered that the only reason why he even bothered to open the book was because of the fact that there were the words, _Written by: Remus Lupin_, on the cover. Unfortunately, he didn't even stop to think that _written_ had meant that Remus was the one who wrote down the book to make it readable and was following Sirius' directions as opposed to he was the one who actually thought up the ideas written there.

Stifling a yawn, he placed the half-empty cup of half-chocolate on the table, said thanks to the house-elves, and headed back to the Head's common room to salvage what was little was left of his sleeping time.

..------..

"James, why do you look like someone from the Night of the Living Dead?" Sirius asked him bluntly as they began eating breakfast.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I couldn't get to sleep again after you dragged me to the kitchens to satisfy your crazy chocolate craving! Honestly, your worse than a pregnant woman with a crazy food combination craving," James snapped at him as he buttered his toast.

"You mean you actually let him drag you into his nonsensical chocolate escapade!" Remus asked as Peter and he laughed.

"Hey, it wasn't at all fun for me, you know. I had to talk to an insane portrait!" Sirius interjected. He turned to James. "I wonder, how can loss of sleep take away all your looks? I mean, look at me, I barely slept at all last night, and I still look as handsome as ever".

Not paying any attention, James turned to Remus and Peter. "Tell me honestly, guys. How bad do I look?"

Remus and Peter looked at each other apprehensively. "Well, Prongs, if it's any consolation, the way you're looking now, Lily's staring at you," Peter said tentatively.

He stole a look at her direction, and countered, "No, she's not staring at me. She's _glaring_ at me". Peter shrugged and returned to his breakfast. James turned to Remus. "Moony, how bad do I look?"

Remus sighed, put down his muffin and said, "Do you really want an honest answer?" When James nodded, Remus replied, "Fine. Simply put, you look like shit, but there's still time for you to get ready and snap up before classes start. I know a spell to remove the dark circles around your eyes. Trust me," his voice dropped. "It helped a lot after the full moon so I wouldn't look so weak".

"Whatever, fine. Good point though, I can't go to class like this, it'll ruin my reputation," James said. Nothing more was said as the four friends resumed eating their breakfast.

Once they were finished, however, they all headed to the common room to help up with James' not so appealing appearance, then headed off to class.

..------..

"JAMES MICHAEL STANLEY POTTER, I WILL MURDER YOU!" Lily yelled at James. It was the afternoon, and they were in their last class of the day, History of Magic, and Professor Binns had left for awhile to attend the staff meeting scheduled by the Headmaster.

"Well, you know my mother's maiden name? How wonderful!" James said, looking quite composed yet delighted.

"STOP TRYING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT! DID YOU, OR DID YOU NOT, JUST WRITE ME THIS LETTER?" Lily snapped at him. Everyone was watching the bickering couple intently now, amused grins on their faces.

"What letter? I've written a lot of letters today, one to my parents, to my cousin, to my friends-------" James said smoothly.

"THIS LETTER!" Lily yelled as se held up a piece of parchment. James walked up to the front, where Lily was sitting, and took the letter from her grasp.

"Oh, you mean, this one? Ah yes, I vaguely remember writing this, but I don't seem to recall the contents of it. Let me refresh my memory, shall I?" And with that, he began to read the letter. Out loud.

"No, Potter!" Lily hissed. "Don't you dare!" He seemed to pay no mind as he started.

"_Dearest Lilykins_," he read out in a dramatic voice. Lily covered her head with her hands. "_Your emerald eyes shine like frog spleen oil, so deeply they glisten with brilliance. Whenever you look my way, I feel as if I had died and gone to heaven with the affectionate looks-yes, I know those sneers and glares are all expressions of love—you shoot at me every day. You are perfect in looks and attitude, although I do know that you have quite a short temper, and sometimes talk to yourself in the common room. You have strange quirks but it only endears you to me more. Your constant refusals are only signs that you want me to work harder for your affections, and indeed I shall. Until the day I draw my last breath, I will always be there, loving you and waiting for you to give me a chance. Love, James"._

The entire class was lightly tittering, save for Sirius, who was laughing so hard that tears were coming down his face. "How did you like that letter, Lily? Wasn't it just sweet?" James asked her, grinning.

Lily looked up, and straightened her posture, her face as brilliantly red as her hair. She stared into his eyes, took the parchment out of his hands, and ripped it to bits. "That's what I think, Potter. I cannot believe you just embarrassed me in front of the public, again! Must you always torment me like this?"

"Lily, I'm not tormenting you! All I'm trying to do is show you how much I care for you! I just want one chance, that's it!" James replied, an almost desperate tone in his voice.

"Well, trust me, Potter, the way you're acting now, I will never give you a chance! I have never done that, and I never will, why can't you get that through your overlarge head!" Lily half-yelled.

At that moment, the bell rang. The students began filing out of the room, Lily being the first to leave.

"Come on, James, let's go to the common room and play Exploding Snap!" Sirius said excitedly.

"Yeah, we've got nothing better to do with our time," Peter added as an afterthought.

James paused then said, "Nah you guys, I sort of need to do something. I'll see you at dinner". And with that, he took his backpack and left the room, leaving behind his three bewildered friends.

He walked and walked through the corridors, his mind full of muddled thoughts. He at last reached the entrance, and went outside. He walked and walked until he reached his destination.

There was no one by the lake, James noted with some relief. Finding his favorite spot, he placed his backpack onto the ground and sat down, observing the water.

Ever since he had been eleven, there was one thing he could never understand about Hogwarts: _Why could he not find any fish in the Black Lake?_ Sure there were mermaids, and the Giant Squid, that was all well and good, but what about _normal_ aquatic creatures? It had never failed to baffle him, and he sometimes liked to sit by there, hoping to see even just one fish swim out to greet him.

But now, he had not come to go fish-watching, he had come to think about his obsession and feelings for Lily. He simply could not understand why she seemed to hate him so much, but sometimes she would act civilly to him.

He was too caught up in his thoughts to find that slowly, four figures started to show themselves from the water, swimming near the spot James was in. When he did notice, however, he went closer and took a good look. He gasped.

_Fishes._

"So there are fishes in the lake!" James thought triumphantly. He grinned to himself and observed them carefully. He found that they seemed to be very friendly with one another, and by some strange notion, he was reminded of his friends.

"Hmm, I think I'll call that one Sirius, and that one James, and that one Remus, and that one Peter," James said quietly to himself.

He looked at them again, and was surprised to find them all looking up at his direction, as if they were all staring at him directly. "Right," James said, figuring that he needed someone, or something to talk to besides himself. He looked at the fish he had called Sirius, and said, "Sirius, I don't get it. Why does Lily hate me so much?"

The only response he got was a slap of the fin, which splashed some water onto James direction.

"Stupid fish," James muttered. He turned to the one named Peter. "Peter, what's wrong with the way I'm acting?"

Peter the Fish's reply was only to swim to another side to eat something it had found.

"Useless fish," James muttered as well. He looked at the fish he had named Remus. "Remus, does Lily hate me?"

To his surprise, Remus the Fish began jumping from the water twice, as though nodding. James looked extremely pleased.

"Finally, something that makes sense! Anyway, she tells me that I'm being an idiot. Am I really?" At his question, the same response was given.

At that point James began to pour out all his problems onto the fish, never pausing once. And amazingly though, it seemed as if Remus the Fish was listening patiently as he spoke.

Suddenly, James heard a voice saying, "Potter? What are you doing?"

Without looking up, he said, "Talking to Remus. He's helping me with my problems".

"But Remus isn't here".

"I'm talking about Remus the Fish," James said. He turned about and found himself face to face with Lily, who had a strange and bewildered expression on her face.

Wordlessly, Lily sat down beside him. They sat in silence for awhile before Lily broke it by saying, "So let me get this straight. You're conversing with _fish_? That's not normal………"

"Well, have you ever seen fish in the Black Lake before?" James asked her.

"No. But what's the point?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to ask you, I guess". And with that, another uneasy silence fell again between them. And once again, Lily broke it.

"I'm really sorry for yelling at you, I was just mad I guess," Lily said suddenly in a rush. The moment the words came out of her mouth she covered her mouth with her hands, looking horrified at the slip of the tongue.

James couldn't believe his ears. "Did—did you just apologize to me?"

As though only realizing now what she had done, Lily snapped hurriedly, "Of—of course not. Why would I be apologizing to you, I don't need to. I don't even know what I'm doing here, don't ask me, you prat!" She hurriedly stood up and walked away, muttering the words, "Stupid James Potter".

James stared at her retreating figure, dumfounded. First she acts quite civilly, and then she snaps at him? Strange. He honestly couldn't understand the way Lily was behaving recently.

And frankly, neither could she.


	4. A Strange Day for Lily Evans

**Affectionate Obsessions**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing you recognize. The rest belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Note:** I am so sorry, everyone who waited for this, for not updating in…..almost a month! For one thing, I was finishing I Never Gave Up, and for another, I had a big writers block with this chapter. Frankly, I'm having writers block with the next chapter for this story and with the **_first_** chapter of the I Never Gave Up Sequel. If you could suggest some situations, that would be wonderful. Anyway, here's chapter four of Affectionate Obsessions!

Chapter 4

**A Strange Day for Lily Evans**

It's quite funny to find that your world has suddenly gone upside down in just one day.

It's quite hilarious, in a twisted, strange way, when everything you thought was normal, your daily routine, and everything else in your life, suddenly changes, and you're stuck in some parallel world where you don't know what the hell is going on.

This was exactly what happened to Lily.

She had always prided herself on being calm, cool, and collected on most instances. She was mostly level-headed in a crisis situation, and was one of the most rational thinkers in the entire school, aside from the encounters where James Potter was involved. She had a routine that she followed everyday (wake up, bathe, change, eat, go to class, reject and think about James Potter, ect..) and aside from minor changes, there was no drastic change that had happened in her life, and not once did she blow up due to an unobvious reason.

So naturally, it came as quite a shock to everyone to see Lily to just suddenly lose what was probably left of her sanity right then and there in a normal, James Potter free environment.

And it all started with a bad hair day and a spoonful of peanut butter.

..------..

"Evans, would you hurry it up in there, I need to get ready for school too you know!" James yelled loudly as he banged the door to the bathroom which Lily and he shared.

"For goodness sake, Potter, would you wait, I'm busy doing something in here!" Lily Evans yelled back, giving a frustrated yell as she surveyed her hair, which had resisted the effects of the mayonnaise solution that she had tried the other night on suggestion of her mother and had decided to look like pieces of uncombed red straw stuck to her head.

Not exactly a pretty sight.

"I don't care, we have twenty more minutes before class starts, and I would actually like to be clean and have some food in my system before I get to class!" James yelled.

"Then go downstairs to the Great Hall and have some, you idiot!" Lily yelled back as she decided to take her wand to use a spell to make her hair look presentable-looking again.

Only to discover that her wand was with Kailey for some reason she could not remember.

Sighing, and not paying any attention to the loud banging on the door, Lily took her brush and began combing her hair, which proved an uneasy feat. After ten minutes, her hair was combed, but there were still many stray hairs and clumps that refused to be untangled, not to mention it still looked like straw, and Lily went out, and, in a burst of cruel inspiration, decided not to tell James that the bathroom was unoccupied.

Once she finished dressing, she went and took a hat out of her closet and placed it in her bag, just in case. She left her room and went to the Great Hall. She slid into the seat next to Kailey, which, to her displeasure, was near the Marauders.

"Morning Lily," Sirius greeted her cheerfully as Lily began buttering up her toast. "Why does your hair look like it was pulled out of the scalp and then glued back very unprofessionally?" he asked her bluntly in a loud voice, making a few people stare. Beside him, Remus smacked him upside the head.

"Thanks a lot for pointing that out Sirius, now I'm sure everyone has noticed!" Lily snapped at him, sighing irritably. She turned and found herself facing Kailey's questioning glance. "My mother's mayonnaise hair recipe, don't ask," was all she said as she took her wand from Kailey's grasp and with a wave of it, her hair went back to looking quite presentable, although it still needed to be combed again sufficiently.

"Lily?" Remus said as he put down the Daily Prophet that he was reading. "Where's James?"

"Um, well……" Lily shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know, James is probably—".

"Here!" James Potter suddenly said, sliding himself in between Sirius and Remus and taking some food.

"What took you, Prongs, you're usually not late for breakfast," Peter asked him as he drowned the contents of his goblet.

"Well, it seems that there was a minor setback with regards to sharing the bathroom," James said, looking pointedly at Lily, and he laughed lightly when she coughed and turned away. _Although now I think I understand what took her so long_, James thought as he saw her hair.

Lily glared at him, noticing his state, but said nothing. She continued eating, and making minimal chatter with Kaylie. She felt something like a headache coming on today, and she groaned lightly when it hit her full force.

"Lily, are you okay?" Kaylie asked her, taking note of her friend burying her head in her hands. "You look…well, horrible is the only word for it".

"Maybe, I don't know, but I probably stepped on a mirror or something, might explain why I'm having bad luck today," Lily responded, frowning.

Suddenly, there was a sound of a SPLAT coming into her direction, and Lily looked around to see what it was. Kaylie, on the other hand, was looking at Lily's uniform in horror.

"Lils….." she said cautiously. "I think you should look down at your uniform". Giving her best friend a questioning stare, Lily looked down onto her uniform and was disgusted to find a splat of peanut butter on her newly-laundered uniform. She turned to her left and glared when she saw Sirius holding up a spoon, looking apologetic.

"Sorry Lily!" he called out. "I didn't mean to hit you, I was going to hit Kaylie, I'm really sorry!"

While Lily was still casting a spell to clean her uniform, Kaylie, looking quite affronted, said, "Black, could you please tell me why the hell you were going to hit me with a spoonful of peanut butter?"

"I wanted to get your attention, plain and simple," Sirius said, his tone so flat and simple that it made it seem as if it were an everyday occurrence.

Kaylie's eyes flashed. "Oh, so you opted for wanting to throw a spoonful of peanut butter at me, as opposed to just _calling out my name _to get my attention!" she snapped, looking quite vexed. "Very mature, Sirius".

He simply grinned at her and turned back to talking with his friends. Shaking her head, Kaylie turned to Lily. Checking her watch, Lily noticed that they had only five minutes left before their first class started, and after she wiped her mouth, she stood up.

"Kaye, we've got to go. We've got Transfiguration first thing, and you know the professor, hating having late students," she said to her best friend, who was still finishing off the last remains of her breakfast.

"Hey, Lils, we'll go with you two. We've got Transfiguration as well," Sirius said as he, Remus, Peter, and James stood up.

There was a strange grin in his face that made Lily suspicious. "I don't think so, guys, we'd better go alone, and we wouldn't want to intrude on any of your _business_".

Sirius exchanged a look with his friends, and Lily saw Remus give Sirius and exasperated eye-roll. "Come on, Lils, what's the harm? Aside from lovesick Jamesie here, you're all good friends with us! Besides, we're not up to something, the way you talk makes it seem as if we're about to do something illegal".

"Knowing you four, I wouldn't be surprised," Lily retorted, staring the boys down. Kaylie laughed but said, "Come on, Lily, what's the harm? Of course you can come guys. Now let's a move on, or else we're going to be late!"

Hearing this, the group realized that they were indeed close to being late, so they hurried out of the Great Hall and walked as fast as they could to the Transfiguration classroom, not talking as they were too busy getting there.

The bell rang just as they entered the classroom. A tabby cat was sitting primly on McGonagall's table, waiting for the room to fill out. Once the last student arrived and the wooden door was shut, the cat leaped and a second later, before them was Professor McGonagall, staring at them formidably before turning back to the blackboard to begin the day's lesson.

It was a tough lesson. In theory it was hard enough to understand, but in practice it was even harder. Halfway through the class, wherein they were asked to perform the spell, only James and Sirius, as well as two other Ravenclaws managed it after a few tries.

"You know, Kaye, Transfiguration really is interesting, but it's hard. Honestly, you would think that Professor McGonagall is purposely torturing us, the sadistic old bat," Lily whispered to her, looking puzzled as Kaylie suddenly looked quite alarmed and made signals for Lily to quit talking.

"You were saying, Ms. Evans?" Professor McGonagall asked the redhead sharply, brow raised and hands on hips. Lily blushed and cursed the fact that lady luck was not on her side today. "Would you like to share your murmurings with the rest of the class?"

"Professor McGonagall!" Lily greeted, trying to place some ease in her tone. "Good morning!"

"I am trying to teach a class here, Miss Evans, and I'd like for you to pay attention, but it seems as if you are still too busy back-biting me to Miss Morgan over there. Please, do go on," McGonagall said sternly, staring Lily down so formidably that Lily felt ready to cower under her gaze.

"I'm sorry Professor, about what I said, I didn't really mean it," Lily said, looking as apologetic as ever, hoping that she would not get into much trouble.

McGonagall eyed her sternly still. "Miss Evans, five points from Gryffindor and a detention this three in the afternoon, as I know that you have a vacant period by then. Pay attention, and be thankful that I am not taking more. Eyes front". She walked back to the front of the class and resumed her discussion, leaving Lily to curse herself and her stupid, big mouth.

Once the bell rang, everyone stood up and proceeded out the door. "Miss Evans, Mister Potter, could you please stay behind for a moment?" McGonagall called out, bringing the two students, who were about to leave, to a halt. They walked to the front and faced the professor wordlessly.

She was simply telling them of their need to patrol around the corridors after curfew more often. "As Heads, you should be well aware of the rules in this school. I understand that you are…teenagers and most of you…...ehem….._engage_ in….certain activities, but it is not proper to do so at later hours at horridly public places. You should do well not to forget your duties, nor should you neglect them. And yes, this afternoon, I would like the both of you to be here in my office, for detention. Mr. Potter, you will be joining Ms. Evans, as you failed to serve your last week's detention. Honestly, as Heads you are not setting a very good example. That is all; you may proceed to your next class".

The two students merely nodded before turning around and leaving the room, still not saying a word to each other.

..------..

**Lily's POV:**

Was I an evil, innocent-killing witch in my past life that was killed in a pubic fire in Salem?

Or did I mercilessly slaughter hundreds of animals just for some nice winter coats?

Or, more frighteningly, did I ever go out with any past-life Voldemort?

Because whatever the reason is, there is something really wrong. First my hair is ruined, my wand can't really fix it that well, and Sirius-Idiot- Black throws peanut butter at me. Then McGonagall catches me calling her a sadistic old bat and takes points off Gryffindor and lands me detention with _him_ The truthful are always persecuted, sadly. So I have just one question.

_What the hell is going on with me today!_

Unfortunately, I cannot articulate my thoughts, or vent, as the only person beside me is James Potter. We are at detention right now, and although McGonagall has left us here, she has charmed the door so that it unlocks onlywhen it is3:45. For some reason, all we had to do was lines, and I was almost finished, and I had nothing else to do.

Once I was done, I put down my quill and sat, quiet, not even paying any attention to him, although out of the corner of my eye I can see that he is desperately trying to get my attention. Even though I'd like to talk to someone who actually understands what it means to have an intelligent conversation (although sometimes I seriously doubt James's—I mean, Potter's capability of doing so), I will not give him the satisfaction of venting all of my problems to him just because he's the only person there.

_That's it, Lily, good job,_ a nice, angelic, calming voice said in my head. _Don't stare at him, don't acknowledge him, don't― wait, why is your head slowly turning in his direction, why are you opening your mouth to say something…….!_

I'm hopeless.

"Potter," I suddenly said curtly, startling him. He looked up from his work and stared at me, his expression hopeful and glad that I actually noticed him.

He is so pathetic.

In a cute, annoying yet adorable kind of way.

Wait, what?

Back to the subject, please……..

"Yes, Lilykins?" he asked me, putting down his quill and looking directly at me, smiling.

Ignoring the fact that he had just called me by one of his many annoying nicknames for me, I continued, "Have you ever gotten the feeling that you don't know what's going on because you feel as if bad luck is constantly following you around?"

He looked surprised at my question, but hey, who could blame him? People don't normally ask questions like this. Still, he answered in an off-hand manner, "Yeah, sure, some of the time. Specifically when Sirius has eaten an exorbitant amount of chocolate and is prone toinsanity attacks". He paused and asked, "Why?"

"Nothing," I shrugged. "I just feel that way, that's all. Is that odd?"

"Knowing you, I don't think so".

I stared at him, incredulous. Did James Potter just call me, though indirectly, odd?

The filthy hypocrite!

Well, not really filthy, as he doesn't have any stain on his robes whatsoever, which is strange since he's a guy, and even from my seat I can detect a light trace of his cologne and—wait a sec, now it sounds like I'm observing him directly. First I strike up a conversation with someone I proclaim to high heavens that I hate, and then I find myself observing him?

There really _must_ be something wrong with me today.

There was a sudden ring, and we both turned to the clock. It was already 3:45, so we knew that we were finished. Leaving our parchments on the table, we both stood up and walked to the door.

"So, uh, Lily," James said kind of awkwardly. "Nice uh….chatting with you?" The way he said it made it sound more like a question than a statement.

"Yeah, you too," I answered vaguely as I reached the door. I turned the knob a few times until the door opened. I was about to walk out when I turned and caught sight of my Potions book, which I needed as it was our next subject, still on the desk I had sat on earlier.

Sighing, I walked back, not bothering to use my wand anymore. For some reason, James was leaning on the wall near the door, as if he was waiting for me. After I got my book, I turned and gave him a questioning look.

"I'll wait for you. Potions is your next class, right?" James said. His voice was so casual, so normal, that for a second I forgot that I'm supposed to hate him and all I could think about was how sweet he was being and……

Who's the pathetic one now, Evans?

I walked back to the door, staring ahead that I didn't notice that my Divination crystal had fallen out of my bag, got unwrapped from the cloth that it was covered in, and was on the floor when I had walked back to retrieve my book. Apparently James didn't either, since he said nothing.

I was already very close to where James was when suddenly, I tripped over that stupid crystal. The crystal was magical, and it sent anything that touched it hurtling forward, so naturally, with a loud yell, I was thrown forward and―

For some strange, twisted, the gods-totally-hate-me reason, James's lips connected with mine. Suddenly, the bloody idiot took it in his head to actually kiss me properly, which he did in the next second.

**James's P.O.V:**

Have you ever felt like you were floating in mid-air? I meant, aside from when you are suspended on a broomstick?

That's kind of like what I'm feeling now.

I can't believe it. I'm **_kissing Lily Evans_**. And she hasn't killed me yet.

I must be in heaven.

Or in a really surreal world, but right now I don't really care. All I care about is that her lip-gloss tastes like strawberries and---wait a second, why is she slowly raising her hand?

**Lily's P.O.V:**

Oookkaay….what is going on here?

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I was being kissed James Potter.

Ha! Impossible. I'm sure that if I close my eyes, he'll be gone and I'll wake up and realize that this was just a wacky, crazy, nightmare.

Damn. He's still there.

So I did the only logical thing I knew to do. Ever so slowly, I raised my hand, pulled away from him, smiled and…….

SLAP! I hissed, "Don't you ever mention this to anyone else, because if you will, I will personally make sure that you will be incapable of having any children at all. Good day, Potter".

And without further ado, I turned on my heel and as primly as I could, left for the dungeons, leaving a dumbstruck James Potter who presently had my handprint on his cheek, behind.

_Oh my god._ I can't believe it. I just got kissed by James Potter. Now I know that there's something wrong with me today as, kissing James Potter is, in my book, considered wrong.

So why can't I keep this stupid smile off my face?

**P.O.V END**

..------..

"Lily! Careful, you were about to add the sopophorous bean! We can't add that until the potion is stirred thirteen times," Kaylie told her irritably, sighing as she stopped Lily from adding the wrong ingredient yet again. They were at Potions, and were brewing a new potion by pairs, and throughout the lesson, Lily was seemingly distracted.

"Oh, what? Sorry Kailey," Lily said tiredly as she dropped the vial and rubbed her temples in frustration. What happened earlier was still fresh in her mind, and the fact that she kissed James Potter was clouding her memory. That and the fact that for some strange, twisted reason, deep, deep, way deep down inside, there was a part of her that actually _liked it_.

"Here, let me do the stirring, you cut up the remaining herbs," Lily instructed. Kailey nodded, and the two switched places.

_"Counterclockwise stir….."_ Lily thought, repeating it in her head like a mantra. "_Counterclockwise stir…….I can't believe that just happened…..clockwise stir—wait, no that's not right……"_ So preoccupied in her thoughts was she that she failed to notice that she had stirred the potion with so much force twenty times in the same direction, and it was now bubbling dangerously.

There was a sudden explosion from their table, and once the smoke cleared, it revealed Lily who was red in the face and horrified to find herself drenched by the potion that had blown up due to her own careless behavior.

The class was deathly quiet. They had been brewing the Draught of Living Death today, and for a fully-completed Draught of Living Death potion to be drenched on someone like that could be disastrous.

"Miss Morgan," Slughorn called out, breaking the silence, as Lily was still standing shock-still, unable to comprehend what had happened to her. "How far along were you on your potion?"

"We had just started, professor," Kailey quickly replied, staring at her best friend. "Lily was just stirring it for the first stage, sir".

Slughorn gave a relieved sigh. The rest of the class was still quiet. "Thank goodness, had you already added the next ingredient, she would have erupted in boils already". He turned to Lily. "Now, Miss Evans, are you quite alright? You don't seem to be yourself today and―".

Lily suddenly let out a loud, angry scream, her face color now likening to her hair very well, startling everyone, especially the professor. "AAAHHHRRRGGGHHHH! I. CAN'T. TAKE. IT. ANYMORE!" Everyone stared at her, looking quite frightened, as they had never seen the usually composed Head Girl lose her cool like this before. Even when she was faced with James Potter she was never this mad, so it could only mean one thing.

Lily Evans had finally snapped.

Not caring about what she was doing, or what on earth she was thinking, she grabbed her book bag and, much to everyone's surprise, turned to leave the dungeon. As she exited the door, James Potter himself, who seemed to be the primary cause of this, sauntered in, pausing when he saw Lily. She didn't even notice him and kept on walking.

"Mr. Potter!" Slughorn called out, seeing the startled boy in the doorway, still surprised himself by his favorite student's episode. "Would you please go out after Miss Evans, find out what's wrong with her today? You do, after all, cater very much for her emotions". He gave a slight smirk as the class broke into quiet laughter.

James rolled his eyes, not at all caring about the professor's comment. "Yes, Professor, anything that will save me from getting a detention because of being late," he merely replied as he walked out to go after Lily, not giving time for Slughorn to register the fact that he had just given one of his best students who was late the freedom to leave.

Back in the Potions classroom, Slughorn said, "Alright, class, continue with your Potion making, only thirty minutes left!"

Meanwhile………

"Lily!" James called out to the girl, who was presently walking as fast as she could. "Lily, wait!"

Lily turned to face him, her expression strange—it looked quite like a mix of embarrassment, anger, frustration, and confusion.

"Lily, are you okay?"

"Okay? _Okay!_ You just saw me blow up in Potions, and you think that I'm okay!" Lily practically half-yelled in his face, startling him. James snapped out of it, however, and regarded the now near-hysterical girl with a cool, calm demeanor.

"Lily," he said as slowly and calmly as he could. "I understand that you were freaked out by what happened earlier, and I'm sorry, because it was an accident, but I couldn't help it, but please, calm down. I guess everyone has their breaking point at some time, do you want me to take you to Madam Pomfrey?"

"And receive another one of those Anger Management pamphlets again?" Lily said. "I don't think so. Please James, all I need is for you to leave me alone right now!"

"Lily, I haven't even done anything really bad to you today—well, aside from kissing you, but that was purely accidental, but whatever!" James protested, following her as she began walking.

Lily stopped and turned to face him, her face red and her eyes narrowed into slits. "DAMN IT POTTER, JUST DO ME A FAVOR AND LEAVE ME TO MY OWN BUSINESS!"

James rolled his eyes, not to be daunted by her angry expression. "Lily, just tell me what's wrong with you. How was your day, would you like to share it or―".

"How's my day!" Lily snapped in a supremely angry voice that James had never heard her speak in, and therefore was quite startled. "I wake up and find that my hair is ruined, your _genius_ of a best friend throws peanut butter onto my uniform, I get detention because McGonagall overheard me insult her, for god knows what reason, I find myself wanting to strike up a conversation with you, the both of us kissed, and now I can't stop thinking about you, resulting in me getting drenched in potion, and you ask me HOW'S MY DAY! WHAT DO YOU THINK? URGH, YOU'RE INFURIATING!"

And without further ado, she turned onto her heel and ran as fast as she could, only realizing at that moment what she had just said, or rather, admitted. She never looked back once.

James stared out at her retreating figure, thinking about what Lily had just said. Shaking his head, he began walking back to the Potions dungeon.

A slow grin slowly started to form on his face as he recalled her last words to him. So, little Miss Evans has been thinking of him, eh? Well, well, that was something. It was no admission of liking him, nor was it a confession of being as head-over-heels over him as he was with her, but that, coupled with the fact that they had already kissed, was a start.

James smiled again.

Yup. It was definitely a start.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

**This was an odd chapter, I'm not so sure if I like it.**

**Lily's coming around…sort of.**

**How was that? I hope it wasn't too bad; I really need help with this story. Did you think that it was too soon, or something? Anyone who gives a great idea will surely be commended. Please read and review! **


	5. One AM Talks

**Affectionate Obsessions**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing you recognize. The rest belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Note: **Yes, the song (really lame, trust me. But it was meant that way) written here is an original, by me. Just so you know. And thank you to the people who have read, and reviewed this story! Sorry for the late update; I'm experiencing writer's block and no time to write. This is also the explanation for my other stories. I'm really sorry. But please, I hope you like this chapter anyway!

Chapter 5

**One A.M Talks**

October rolled in without much fanfare. Lily was avoiding James as much as possible, seeing as she was still reeling from the fact that they had kissed and that she had actually _liked it_. James, on the other hand, was getting frustrated over the fact that he hadn't been able to see Lily—he was now so sure that she was furious at him. He had tried to catch her in class, but she would always bolt out first. He knew the right thing to do—apologize. In a normal way. But it, sadly, wouldn't be an easy feat. Not for him.

Especially when he had the rest of the Marauders for best friends.

**James's POV**

I haven't seen her in 5 days, 14 hours, 10 minutes, and 27-no wait, 29 seconds.

5 days, 14 hours, 10 minutes, and- wait, it's now, 31 seconds.

It's a miracle I'm still alive.

It's hard not being able to see her, damn, it's one of the hardest things I've ever done. And that included the time I lost a bet and Sirius had me wear a yellow sundress and a headband to the Great Hall one time. _Such a horrifying experience._

Especially since yellow isn't exactly my color. I'm actually more inclined to browns, as they accentuate my eyes and compliment my complexion—

Great. Just _great_. This is how insane I've become; I'm now talking about what color suits me instead of playing Quidditch or something. I am so pathetic.

Anyway, back to the main topic. Even if we share the same common room, I haven't seen her at all—I suspect that she's been timing it right so that she arrives and locks herself up in her room when I'm not yet around, so she won't be able to see me. I want to talk to her, but it's just----

Oh my god! A flash of red! That shade of red is unmistakable—it has to be Lily! Finally, she goes somewhere (the lakeside) where I am present! Wait a second, what am I saying, I can't see her! What will I say? Should I be all, 'Lily, we need to talk about what happened'? Or should I be all straight forward and say, "Lily, I loved kissing you, can we do it again sometime'? Crap, that sounds so lame; she's probably hit me on the head and----

"Damn, Remus, your plan totally backfired," Sirius said, looking frustrated. "Instead of bringing this red quaffle to make him snap to attention, he's spaced out while thinking about Lily!"

I looked up, and blinked when I saw my three best mates waiting expectantly at me, Sirius holding a bright red quaffle that only a crazy person would mistake as the mop of hair of a certain red-head.

Wait a minute, I think I just insulted myself. Is that even possible? Anyway…….

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked them, as they sat beside me. "Shouldn't you be off raiding the kitchens or something?"

Sirius shook his head. "Not this time, we spotted McGonagall near the area on the Marauder's Map. But mate," his tone changed. "We wanted to talk to you. What is going on with you, James?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since you had that detention with Lily and she blew up at you during Potions, you seem to have something on your mind all the time," Peter answered.

Since when was Peter this observant?

"It's nothing, guys, it's just……I'm pretty sure that she's mad at me―."

"Mad?" Sirius scoffed. "Only yesterday, I heard her say to Kailey that she wanted to gouge your eyes out and feed them to the Giant Squid."

Oh yeah, Sirius, thanks a lot for making me feel _soo_ much better.

"Not helping, Padfoot," I gritted out, sighing.

Remus laughed. "James, you just need to apologize to her for whatever you did. Say sorry. That's all!"

"Yeah," Sirius added. "Besides, what you did probably wasn't really that bad. I mean, it's not as if you guys _kissed_ or anything―."

Okay. Is Sirius physic or something?

"What makes you say that?" I replied, my voice sounding-gasp- like a girl. This caused a few eyebrows to rise.

"Nothing Prongs, jeez," Sirius replied, sounding bored of the conversation. I sighed again.

"Mate, this isn't like you," Peter added, rolling his eyes. "Just stand up and apologize already, that isn't so hard to do!"  
You know what? They're right. What's so hard in saying sorry? All you have to do is walk over to her, open your mouth, and say your apology, and also be prepared to beg and grovel. Easy, right?

Sure, really easy, considering that Lily would most likely feed me to the Giant Squid first before I could speak.

"It's not that easy, guys, I need something romantic and interesting. I need a plan," I said firmly. The boys exchanged worried glances.

"James, I don't think―."

"Prongs, why don't you just―."

"That's a great idea! I know just the thing!" Sirius suddenly said in utmost enthusiasm, grinning that I-have-a-plan grin of his.

Uh-oh.

"Sirius, maybe you should let me plan by myself," I said, and the other two nodded eagerly.

"Oh come on, just listen to this, it's great, trust me!" And with that, Sirius told me his idea. Which, for some twisted, innate reason, was actually quite sensible and might actually work. I found myself nodding.

"You know," I said slowly. "Your plan could work, it's actually pretty good!" Peter groaned and Remus sighed in exasperation.

"James, don't you think you should think things through?" he told me.

"Why should I when everything's all planned out?" I replied back at him.

"I'll even be in charge of the equipment, this is gonna be great!" And with that, Sirius gave me one last grin and sped off, leaving us behind.

"James, do you think that trusting Sirius with your Apologize to Lily plan was the wisest thing to do?" Remus said, fixing me a look.

"Yes."

Little did I know that I was about to regret making that little decision after awhile.

**END P.O.V.**

..------..

"Apologizing to Evans, eh?" Bellatrix eyes glittered maliciously at this piece of information. "Potter's planning to apologize to Evans?"

"_Yes_," Severus Snape said, trying to be patient. "I told you twice already. I heard that blood-traitor and his idiot friends talking about it a while ago."

"I wonder why he wants to apologize to that mudblood anyway," Bella's eyes narrowed as she spat out the vile insult. "It's beneath him, but then again, he and his worthless friends are all blood traitors, so what do they know?"

A light suddenly sparked in her eyes. "Wait, Severus, I've been struck by an excellent idea."

"I know that look, Bella," Severus said, trying to be serious, although the malicious expression on his face gave away his enthusiasm somewhat. "You're thinking of sabotaging Potter's plans, aren't you?"

"Of course I am, would I ever miss an opportunity to make his life miserable? And you, Severus, will help me." At his raised brow, she added, "It will be an easy task, I'm sure. After all, as you said, my worthless cousin is arranging things, is he not? This will not be in the least bit difficult."

As Severus nodded his assent, Bella sat closer to him. "Come now, Severus, we must plan, carefully, just to be sure. After all, I want to make sure that _nothing_ goes right."

..------..

The night wind brushed cold against James Potter's skin as he walked determinedly to Lily's bedroom window, chiding himself for not bringing a coat. In his grasp was his guitar, and he was clearing his voice from time to time to make sure it sounded nice, or at least decent.

Finally arriving there, he set down the guitar on the ground and grabbed a tiny pebble from the ground. He threw it on Lily's window, hoping that it would wake her, whispering, "Lily!"

It didn't work. The pebble simply hit the glass and bounced back to the ground. Not caring, James took another small pebble and threw it again on the window. No such luck.

By the end of five small pebble throws, he was beginning to get frustrated. He was already freezing, and he had left his wand at his room. He turned to the side, and found a big stone perched on the ground. Grinning to himself, he picked it up and threw it with all his might into Lily's window.

**LILY'S P.O.V**

_One a.m in the morning._

That's the time right now. One o'clock in the morning. It's still very dark out, and in my room, I rested in peaceful slumber.

Or I _did_ rest in peaceful slumber, until all of a sudden a loud crash of glass and a sharp hit on the arm woke me up from it. Startled, I shivered when a gust of wind passed. But wait a minute; I closed the window, what was---

_Oh dear lord_. My window glass is broken. And I've just spotted what hit me. A really big stone that somebody threw at my window. What an _idiot_.

Okay, what is going on here? Ever since Potter and I kissed, strange things have been occurring in my life. First I blow up in Potions, then I mistake my socks for my hat, then now I'm hearing a voice in my head whispering my name distinctly-----

Wait a second, that's not a voice in my head (thank goodness, I was beginning to think that I was delusional). Someone's calling me from out the window! As I got up from bed and took on my robe, I could hear the voice again.

_"Lily! Lily!"_ the person, undeniably male, hissed. I froze.

I knew that voice. I knew that voice only too well. And I even recognize the idiocy of the previous actions too. Eyes narrowing, I walked towards my window, but cleaning up the broke glass first with my wand. I looked down, and sure enough, James Potter was there, grinning that stupid grin of his and wearing no coat despite the cold.

"Potter what the hell do you think you're doing?" I hissed from below. "It's bloody one am in the morning, you prat!"

"Hello Lily!" he said brightly, smiling at me then bending down to get something I couldn't see. He came into view again, and my narrowed eyes turned wide.

James Potter was on _bended knee_, a _rose_ on his shirt pocket, a _guitar _(how it got to Hogwarts, I will never know)rested on his knee, and clearing his throat.This could only mean one thing.

_He was about to serenade me. At one in the morning. _

Merlin, no, no, no, please, let not that be his intention! I haven't really heard him sing, but I really don't want to hear him, just in case he sounds like a terribly off-key banshee. Besides, what sane guy appears on your window at one in the morning to serenade you? Hello, this is the seventies, not the Victorian ages, what timeline did this guy get stuck in?

"Potter, don't, please―" I tried to say but he brushed me off.

"Lily, I want to apologize to you for what happened during September. Please. You won't talk to me, you brush me off, so I think my only option is to express it in song." And he began to strum the guitar.

But no sound came out.

Both of us were surprised. Red faced and surprised. Why was his guitar not sounding? Musical instruments were hard to put silencing charms upon. What was going on here? He wasn't singing, and he wasn't playing the guitar.

I sighed in relief.

I looked down again, and resisted the urge to smirk. James was looking flustered as he tried again, to now avail. He inspected his guitar. "Ah Lils…I ehem….I mean…." He stuttered as he frantically looked his instrument over. This was definitely not going the way he had planned.

Suddenly, he placed the guitar back into the case and turned back to me, still a bit red- faced but looking determined all the same.

"You know Lily? Forget the music, I'll sing a capella! It'll sound better that way; you'd be able to hear my voice more!" He said in an overly-enthusiastic voice.

I closed my eyes, trying not to be so horrified. He was actually going to sing to me without musical accompaniment! This couldn't be good; at least with the instrument, his voice could be drowned out. But now……

I should have just left and went back to bed. Heck, I should have just yelled, 'Potter, go away, I don't want to hear your pathetic apology!' But before I could leave, took a deep breath and said, "This is for you, Lils. I'm really sorry." And he began to sing.

_I know I messed up_

_I know I did something wrong_

_Ruined whatever chance I might have had_

_Cuz I came on too strong_

_Wanted, and loved you for so long_

_I can't even begin to_

_Describe the way you make me feel_

_But…..you'd always push me away_

_You'd shoot me down every time_

_Then something happened_

_We kissed it felt like heaven_

_But you seem to hate what I did _

_So here I am, right now, to say that……_

_I'm sorry for what I did last September_

_I'll admit I was a little too carried away_

_Never meant to cause you any worry_

_I love you please, I hope you accept my sorry._

Well, I was wrong. He didn't sound like a terribly off-key banshee. Oh no.

He sounded much _worse_.

His words were slurred and his voice, so loud, would falter during the higher notes. He was horrendously off-key, and it sounded as if the voice didn't come from him.

He abruptly shut his mouth and stared at me in horror, his face probably even redder than mine. Way up in the Tower, I resisted the urge to laugh.

"Potter you probably woke the entire castle with your singing; that was terrible!" I called out, resisting a giggle that was threatening to escape my lips. James looked so mortified; I stopped my laughing and almost felt sorry for the poor guy. I mean, he did get up at an ungodly hour just to serenade me to show that he was sorry—

But he also broke my window, woke me up at one am, and hit me on the arm in the process. Not only that, but his voice was horrible and so loud and embarrassing that I wouldn't be surprised if half on Hogwarts had heard him.

Hmm, let's see here, which matters more to me? Potter's mortification or mine? Hmm, weigh it down evenly……Ah yes. Mine of course.

"Lily, I don't know what happened!" He was yelling. "That wasn't my voice, I swear!"

I rolled my eyes. "Potter, why don't you get back to the Head's common room before you freeze to death out there?" Only when I saw his smirk did I realize the way my words sounded.

"Concerned about me, are you?" James….er, Potter, said cockily, all traces of embarrassment gone the instant I said those words. Now there was a conceited smile on his face.

Prat.

"No, Potter, I'm more concerned about that plant you've been stepping on for the past few minutes, now get yourself in here before you cause me any more embarrassment," I called out, glaring at him.

"As you wish, my dearest," he said cheerfully. He picked up his guitar, and before I knew it, he was gone. I sighed and slumped onto the floor.

What on earth did I do to deserve this!

Putting on my robe, I sighed and walked out of my bedroom and was surprised to see him already in the Head's common room. How he got there so fast, I didn't know.

I walked to him and rolled my eyes when I saw that stupid smile on his face again. "Hey Lils," he said, in an almost sheepish tone. "So uh….did you like my presentation?"

"Of course I liked it, Potter," I said, the sarcasm clear and evident. "I mean, I just _love_ being woken up at one in the morning to be serenaded by some guy who sings like a banshee."

He paid no mind to my insult. "So uh…do you accept it? My apology, I mean?"

"I don't know," I replied, truthfully, this time. I wasn't really mad at him, or anything, but, shameful as it sounded, it was better to just pretend. "I really don't know, Potter."

He stared at me incredulously. "What? After all that effort I put in to it, and you _don't know_?"

"Yes." A thought entered my head. "Why did you choose to serenade your apology anyway?"

"Because," he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Girls like stuff like that. Everyone knows that girls fall for romantically crappy actions like that one, so I thought that you'd like it too."

That flared my temper up. I don't know why it was so sudden, but I guess, all my pent-up emotions were finally reaching the surface, and he was my only venting outlet.

"You just don't get it, do you, Potter?" I snapped, balling my fists. "I'm not like other girls, who fall easily for moonlight serenades, flowers, chocolate, and all that romantic crap! I don't want some perfect prince charming on a white horse who'll treat me like some glass sculpture, I want a guy who'll treat me like a real person, who'll respect and care for me _and_ for my flaws. I want a guy who's real around me, and I'm sorry, Potter, but you're just not giving me that!"

"Evans−"

"Shut up, Potter, it isn't your time to talk," I continued. I guess there was no stopping me now. "And what aggravates me most is that around me you act all arrogant, and uncaring, but I've seen you with other persons; that isn't how you act all the time! Basically, you keep trying to impress me by being some sort of dumb jerk, how the hell am I supposed to believe that you actually care for me when you don't even act real around me? So I'm sorry, James Potter, but unless you can show who you really are, then I'm just not interested!"

And with that, I stormed back up the room, face red from yelling, knowing that I left a dumbstruck and probably speechless James Potter behind me.

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**How was that? Hopefully that made up for more or less 3 months of not updating. Please read and review! **


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